Ten Years
by Control Room
Summary: On the night he got kicked out, Stan met a young girl in a similar predicament. They ended up traveling together for the next ten years. This is their story. [PLATONIC RELATIONSHIP, SUCKERS!]
1. Meeting

_**Welp, I'M BACK! AND I COULDN'T HAVE DONE THIS WITHOUT SCIPUNK63 ON TUMBLRS HELP! GIVE THAT GAL A ROUND OF APPLAUSE! (AND FOLLOWERS!) IM COOKIEROOKIE-CONTROLROOM ON TUMBLR!**_

* * *

Stanley sighed heavily, trying to ignore the burn in his throat and eyes from the stinging, hot, ever persistent tears that threatened to fall from his eyes. He was almost to the stop sign that was located at the end of his block, but he skidded to a halt. Slamming on the brakes, he found that he couldn't contain himself anymore. Shakily, he gave a last ditch effort not to cry, by suddenly releasing the breath he didn't know he was holding. However, not even that could hold back the river.

"Stupid school," He muttered, hands tightening on the wheel as the tears began to stream. "That stupid project... My stupid dad... Stupid... Stupid me... Great going, Stanley..."

He furiously rubbed his eyes to the point that he was sure that they were red from his hands and not from tears. The honking of another car horn behind him jerked him back to reality, forcing him to make yet another last second choice.

'Where do I go now...?'

Almost unconsciously, Stanley found himself making a left turn, heading towards a familiar surrounding. He found himself going towards his old hang-out; Glass Shard Beach. It was where the swing set he and his brother had claimed all those years ago sat, waiting and welcoming. With a fresh batch of tears forming, he found himself parking and then slamming the door of the StnlyMble shut. With quick and jerky movements, he soon sank into "his" swing, proceeded to drop his head into his hands, and wept for all that he lost.

"D-damn it..."

It was a long time before he was able to see again. The tears hadn't stopped, by they had cleared up enough. Once this was finally done, he sighed and threw his head back, letting out a course laugh.

"You never did want to let me live, did you, universe?" Stan laughed, his throat now sore. "Heck, was I even supposed to?"

Only silence responded, as he expected. With a heavy sigh, Stan turned his head skyward and began to study the stars above him, as though they held all of the answers.

"Yeah, thought so..."

Turned back to face the horizon, he caught what looked to be more stars, only to realize quickly that it was a boat, floating closer and closer to shore. Stanley frowned, knowing that the Beach law required all boats had to be out of the water by dusk. Squinting, he tried to make out what was happening on the boat, or at least try and see who was crazy enough to be out this late. It turned out to be two children, who suddenly tumbled out of their boat and into the water. Stan's eyes adjusted to the dark, crashing water, and was able to see the silhouettes of a boy and girl. They were ferociously punching, kicking, and splashing at each other as they seemingly attempted to get to dry land. The boy was a little further behind the girl, until he suddenly lept forward from the water and crashed on top of the girl, dragging them both further under the water.

"O-oh geez-" Stanley gasped, suddenly leaping from the swing. "W-what should I do!? Should I hel- Ho-"

"Let go!" The girl's strong voice suddenly rang out as her head broke the surface.

With a quick fist, she landed a harsh knock against the boy's jaw, and processed to kick away from him. In an instant, she was back to swimming as fast as her thin arms seemed to be capable of carrying her.

"Ow! You'll pay for that!" The boy shouted angrily, taking a moment to collect himself before swimming off after her "Get back here!"

The girl still beat him to the sand, and she stumbled onto the shore. However, the boy wasn't too far behind. Without thinking, Stan rushed to the girl's assistance.

"Hey, kid-" He began, only to have the girl stomp right passed him.

"I don't need any help! I'm fine." She called over her shoulder bitterly.

"Hey," Stan said with a small and worried grin. "Just making sure... You two fighting seemed a bit worse than what I just went th-"

He paused, realizing that he knew very little about this girl and was probably just talking out of his ass right now. Frowning, he decided to take what the girl said as gospel and went silent.

"Is that so?" She hissed, wringing her wet hair out. "Whats your problem?"

"I-I guess." Stanley shrugged, frowning. "I just got kicked out by my parents and I really only have my car-"

"You have a car?" She snapped suddenly. "Mind giving me a ride before my brother gets here?"

"Um... sure?" Stan said with a bit of uncertainty. "Where to? Home?"

"No." She muttered. "Just... away from here, if that's okay. I can foot you the gas money and-."

"Nah, that's fine- What about your brother or whoever that guy i-" Stan began, but he stopped when the girl sent a death glare his way. "I'm just not gonna ask."

She nodded her head, and began speed walking a little, with Stan following close behind her. He silently pointed out the car to her, and unlocked it.

"Just sit on my jac-" Stan began, but by then she had practically jumped into the passenger seat, dampening the fake leather seats, much to Stan's annoyance.

"It'll dry. Just get in." With that, Stan followed in suit.

Once in, he strapped in his seat belt, started the car, and then hit the gas. From his side view mirror, he could see that the boy had just made it to the sand by then.

"Eat dirt, Benjamin," the girl hissed, then lowered her head. "Wake me up when we get somewhere."

Stan dared not oppose, and turned his eyes back to the road. He stayed silent, and listened to the sound of her breathing, waiting until it evened out to signal that she had fallen asleep.

"Bosy kid." He aired his grievances the moment he felt it safe, and looked down to her quickly.

With her asleep, he was able to get a better look at her. Or rather a couple of quick glances while still trying to keep his eyes and car on the road.

"Let's see-" He muttered, piecing his glances together into a small picture in his head.

She wore a green dress with draping sleeves that fell over small, honey arms. Shiny black hair, which honestly reminded Stan of his own mother's, was tied back into a thick braid. Her nose was sharp and tilted upwards like his mother's also. Despite the resemblance to Ma Pines, she still had a rather statue like resting face like Filbrick. Then again, this could have just been Stanley's emotionally damaged mind playing tricks.

"Gotta be it. Unless this kid is my lost baby sister." He joked to no one in perticular. "Not that I'd really want my family around me right now... Not after I was just kicked out by them..."

Stan sighed, and took one last glance over to the child. If he had to guess her age, then her overall form put her at twelve to fourteen, and she was a little too thin for his liking. Frowning, he casted his last glance at the cigarette tray in his car, the one that he usually used for loose change. From the looks of it, he had just enough to feed the kid something from a small stand or something, but that was about it.

"Good thing I had those Toffee Nuts earlier... Looks like dinner is going to the new kid."


	2. Unwelcome Questions, Begrudgingly Given

p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"They drove for almost two hours, just a little past midnight, and the stars shone bright in the black sky. It almost was peaceful, but it was plagued by upset thoughts. Stan drove to a campsite he and his brother had been to multiple times, and parked. The girl seemed to notice the slight change, and groggily woke up. In the moonlight, Stan saw her eyes were a midnight blue, unlike the Pines chocolate brown he was used to seeing./span br /br /span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""Where are we?" She groaned, stretching her back. "How far did we go?"/span br /br /span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""We're in a forest," Stan informed her, getting out of the car with the duffle bag. She followed out and lay on the ground a foot or two away from Stan, eyes gleaming like a cat's. He placed the bag on the ground, unzipped it, and began checking its contents. "Soap... clothes... shampoo... more clothes... nice! Twenty bucks! And here's some trail mix!"/span br /br /span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"He tossed the container to the girl, who caught it in the air. She tilted her head at him, silently questioning./span br /br /span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""Aren't you hungry?" He asked. "Don't you want a little dinner?"/span br /br /span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""Well..." she said with a slightly forced smile, "I haven't had a dinner since I was six. No breakfast. Only lunch. This," she shook the container, "Surprised me."/span br /br /span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""What are you waiting for?" Stan questioned in shock. "You must be starving!"/span br /br /span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"She opened the mix, took out a handful, and passed it to Stan./span br /span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"br /spanspan style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""I'm not hungry," he announced, but his stomach chose that time to intervene. The girl smiled a little and this time it was genuine, if a bit small. It filled Stan with a sort of happiness./span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""Eat," she urged. "You must be as hungry as me."/span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" Begrudgingly, he complied, and her smile widened a millimeter. Stan didn't realize at the time, but his did as well./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" "What's your name, kid?" He asked while sticking his hand into the mix./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" "I can tell you your name's Stanley," she replied with a slight tease in her voice, "Your license plate gives it away."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" "Look kid," Stanley growled slightly at her avoidance, "If you're gonna stick with me, then you can't keep these secrets."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" "Hmph," she trumped, looking away. "Nope."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" "Fine," Stan groaned, then an idea struck him. "Hey kid, let's play a game. I ask a question, you answer for you, then I'll answer the same question, and then you ask a question both answer. Got it?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" "Alright," she sighed with a small nod. "My name's Elizabeth. Elizabeth Cipress. Cipress is spelled with an 'i'."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" "Cipress... like the tree?" Stan wondered. Elizabeth nodded in response, motioning for the trail mix. "Kinda ironic, seeing as my last name's Pines."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" "Welcome to the forest," she joked. Stan chuckled before she spoke again. "My turn... who's in your family?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" "Well, there's my ma," he slowly answered, a fond smile spreading on his face. "Sherman, my older brother. Shirley, my little sister, my pa, and..."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" Stan felt the words catch in his throat. The raw emotions began to attack his tired mind. He couldn't think about anything but Ford's hurtful words, and it killed him. He just-/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" "Hey."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" Elizabeth's voice cut into his insidious thoughts like a knife through water. Her expression was concerned, sympathetic./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" "It's okay if you don't want to answer that yet," she told him gently. "I'll just say my-"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" "No!" Stan cut her off. "It's just..."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""Hard to realize your own twin hates you," she muttered, finishing his sentence, albeit with slightly different words. She glanced up at him. "I hope yours wasn't as bad as mine."/span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" "Huh," Stan murmured. "Naw, Stanford? He didn't hate me, at least not until tonight."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" "Hold the phone," Elizabeth giggled, wrinkling her nose in a way that reminded Stanley of Shermie while he studied. "You both were named Stan?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" "Yeah," Stan chuckled. "Stanford liked to be called 'Ford', though. Anyways, I said my family, now you say yours."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" "Well, there's my adoptive mom and dad," she started, sticking her hand into the mix and leaning back. "And well, my adoptive twin, Benjamin, and my real mom and dad. Whom, for the record, I never met."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" "Wait a sec," Stan struggled to process the information. "How can you have an adoptive twin?!"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" "So here's how it works:" she explained. "My biological parents were murdered when I was two weeks old. I was put into an adoption facility. The same day I was born, my adoptive parents were due to have twins, but only one made it. So my dad searched the world for a girl with black hair and dark blue eyes, born on the same day, and near the same time, as his son. I guess around ten months into his search he began to lose hope and he'd gone on a walk to clear his head. He ended up walking by the center I was at, and he checked out the children. It was late August, so everyone was enjoying the remainder of warmth. Everyone but me. My dad said that I was laying down in a little patch of flowers, looking up at the sky. He fell in love with me, and when he found out the date and time I was born matched up with his kid, me being twelve minutes younger, he adopted me the same afternoon. And that is how I have an adoptive twin."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" "Wow," Stan breathed, "That's... really confusing, but I guess it makes sense. Sounds like you had to explain that a lot."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" "Well, duh," she said, nudging him. "It's your turn to ask a question."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" "Alrighty then," he chortled. "What is your birthday, favorite food, and favorite color?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" "That's three questions," Elizabeth complained. "But fine. My birthday is October 29th, if I had to pick a favorite food it would be donuts, and my favorite color is midnight blue."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" "June 15th," Stan smirked slightly and bitterly, knowing it would come up soon, "Toffee Nuts. And red. Your turn, Lizzie."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" The nickname slipped out of Stan's mouth before he could stop himself. He blushed a little under the look she gave him./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""What got you kicked out?" She asked, shrugging off the awkwardness, "And I don't mind you calling me that, /spanspan style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Lee/span /spanspan style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"."/span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" "Um… OK," he swallowed, trying to clear his thoughts. "Well, Sixer, my twin, is a straight out genius. He can answer everything, create anything, and do everything. So he went and made a science thing for the school fair. Well, this fancy big college heard about it, but I broke it the night before they came to check it out."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" "Alright…" Lizzie said, with a slightly puzzled expression. "But how did that get you kicked out?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" "The college didn't take 'im," Stan swallowed thickly. "An' when our pa found out, he threw me out on the street, an' told me that I had to make the millions I lost before I could come home."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" "That's disgusting," Liz growled. "I got kicked out for probably getting someone… more like a lot of people- killed. Actually… I kinda ran away…"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" "So I'm trapped in a random forest with a possible murderer?" Stan joked seriously. "Come on, yer story makes no sense. Explain it for me!"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""So… it started when I stole a certain document from my mother's safe," Lizzie sighed. "But I accidentally took an extra paper, one with… disgusting information on it. Well, I showed the paper to my father, who was outraged. At first, my father seemed to calm down. But one by one, the people who were listed on the document began to be killed, in very horrific and mysterious ways. My mother and brother found out what I had done, and they were furious. Then, my mother ordered my brother to ki- er, /spanspan style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"punish/span /spanspan style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"me. And now I'm here!"/span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" "So you had to run away... because of a paper?" Stan asked, shocked. "But that's… so dumb!"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""Tell me about it," she groaned, resting her head on hands. However, she immediately jolted upright, and studied her left hand with a look of horror. "M-my ring! It's /spanspan style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"gone/span /spanspan style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"!"/span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" "Wait, what?" Stan was befuddled now. "What's so important about it?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""It… it was emmy/em ticket home!" She cried, her head dropping into her hands. "As in, if I were you, it would've been/span span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"two /spanspan style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"million dollars!"/span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" She bit her lip and her eyes glazed over with tears, but she didn't let them out. Instead, she paused and took a deep breath, and when she reopened her eyes, you'd've never thought they had ever been there./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" "No good ever came out of crying," she grumbled. "Guess I'm stuck with ya longer than I thought. If my memory serves correctly, it's your turn for a question."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" "I think Lizzie," Stan yawned, stretching his back as well. "That this conversation can continue later. It's better if we sleep."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""'Kay," she replied, and yawned as well. "G'nite, Ley."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"She fell asleep rather quickly, but Stan did not. He had /spanspan style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"way/span /spanspan style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"too much to think about./span/p 


	3. Thrifty Giggles

When Stanley awoke, the first thing he realized was that he was slightly moist. Everywhere. It wasn't as uncomfortable as confusing. Then he remembered he was outside. Why was he outside? Wha… what… what happened? He knew that he had slept outside many times with Ford… but by the beach. There were no sounds of crashing waves or the annoying squawk of seagulls. Instead, there were trees rustling and the early morning tweet of birds. He… he was in a forest. He was wet because dew landed on him. He was outside because he got kicked out, and that was because he broke Sixer's project. With a groan, Stan pushed himself up with one hand, the other by his head.

'Idiot… moron… worthless… waste of space….' and other degradations rushed through his thoughts, getting louder by the moment. He put his shaking head into his hands, whispering 'no, no, no, no….' but all he felt was hollow. Empty. Cold. Drained. Torn. Useless. He ruined his own life, and he had to drag his beloved brother's, his best and very much only friend's life down as well. There was nothing he could've done, why did he even go back to that stupid science idiocy? There was nothing fair about it. Why did they put 'fair' in the name? Who knows. At least he got his thoughts off of that .

"You're thinking so loud I can hear you from here," a wry voice joked, but sounding tired and hoarse, as though the person had been yelling all night. "Rise and shine, Pines."

"Meh… wha?" was Stan's response. Who was with him? Oh, right. A girl. Eliza? Beth? Wait… "Elizabeth?"

"Mmhm," she hummed. What did she do with her throat last night? "Um… are ya alright?"

"I guess." Stan shrugged. "I think I'm still shocked or something."

"So… um," Elizabeth shifted uncomfortably. She was standing near the StanleyMobile and looked out past Stan into the forest with a somewhat wistful expression. "I'm sorry." She forced out. "I… probably shouldn't have acted like that yesterday. Like… you were helping me… and I just was… I don't even know. I know I'm sorry."

"Look…" Stan sighed, hating how awkward this was. He never was awkward before, why was this so strange? "I get it. You were stressed, I was stressed, we both are stressed. I think that we both take stress differently, but the same."

"How so?" she asked, tilting her head and flopping onto the ground. Stan found it odd that she was able to do such a mundane act with the utmost amount of grace. "Do we take stress the same, that is?"

"I'm not really sure," he admitted, grinning sheepishly. A small smile twitched on Elizabeth's lips, then vanished. "But we both seem to take things aggressively."

"You take them aggressively?" she stated, a questioning itch to her tone. "Verbally? Physically?"

"I used ta box," Stan said, quite prideful and proud, remembering his first time in the ring with a smile. "So, ya. Physically. With punching!"

A small dainty hand shot up to cover her mouth, eyes twinkling and sparkling, and it hit Stan that she was trying not to grin. Well, he was going to get her to smile, even if it was the last thing he could do.

"Yeah, I punched a lot of things," he continued, getting to his feet, for his own theatrical purposes. "Bullies, muggers, teachers, that one guy on the football team I hated, you name it! I even punched a wall!"

"A wall?! That ain't no punch, try a tree!" Elizabeth added, a ghost of a smirk hiding on her face, shifting away as quickly as it had come. "Those are tough."

"Oh really," Stan challenged, strutting over to her like a shameless peacock, grinning increasingly and smug beyond belief. "Do you think I'd be able to?"

"That's up to you," she replied, tossing her ponytail back. "I doubt it, though."

"It is on !" he laughed, going over to one of the trees by their alcove. And he hit it with all his might. And within that moment, the instant Stan's hand connected with bark, there was only one emotion. Doubling over his now injured hand, Stan wheezed out one word, "Regret!"

A soft tinkling noise spread throughout the forest. It started quiet, but grew in crescendo. Stanley opened an eye to see Elizabeth… laughing? Wow. Her almond eyes squeezed shut, one hand around her stomach, the other still covering her mouth, the young girl folded over as her guffaws rang clear. It was a pleasant sound, one Stan found himself joining, unintentionally. The whole situation was so funny, so absurd, Stan was quite surprised that he only started laughing now. Two outcasted kids with no plan or family, sitting in a forest punching trees.

They drove the entire day, barely talking aside from random conversation about nothingness. The cities and towns came and went, fast yet unbearably slow, they drove incessantly, pausing only for gas and to stretch their sore legs. It was only on the next day entirely when Elizabeth spoke up.

"You've been pretty dang down in the dumps lately, huh?" she asked, looking out the window as they drove through a small town. Stan grunted in response. "I have an idea. You know what girls do when they're feeling down?"

"Sit in a circle and cry on the other's shoulder," Stan muttered. "Or drive their ex-boyfriend's girlfriend's van into a ravine. That helps. A lot."

"Wait… what? Nevermind. Anyway… I know I'm gonna sound really, super stereotypical, but…" a brisk smirk flicked across her face. "Let's go shopping."

"That would be a great idea," Stan said with a scowl. "If we weren't dirt poor."

"That's exactly why…" she paused for dramatic effect, glancing at Stanley. "We're going thrift shopping."

Stan had to admit, though however much he'd like to deny it, getting five bags of stuff for two-fifty was one of the best experiences he's had in a really long time.


End file.
